


How to Kiss on a Dare

by RileyRooin



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, Tropetastic Tuesday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-26
Updated: 2017-03-26
Packaged: 2018-10-11 07:27:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10458801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RileyRooin/pseuds/RileyRooin
Summary: A dare steers an interview aboutThe Book of Mythicalityway off course.Written for Tropetastic Tuesday #3: Kissing on a dare (and oops we kind of liked it what now) in 1000-2000 words.





	

None of this would probably have happened if Stevie had been there. She had a way of keeping everything in check, of letting the two of them tiptoe right up to the point where they took things too far and then reeling them back in before they actually crossed any lines. But, Stevie wasn’t there to do that this time. Minutes before they’d been scheduled to drive to the unfamiliar studio across town, she’d been called away to handle some crisis happening at Mythical Entertainment. Rhett and Link climbed into the car, promising her they would be on their best behavior in their interview about _The Book of Mythicality_.

The interviewers, Josh and Kevin, were up and coming YouTubers who had a very modest following. Despite this, after speaking with them for a few moments, it was clear why Stevie had booked this interview. The two men were were obviously fans who were familiar with their work. That always made interviews better. Rhett and Link could relax and be themselves without having to explain their backstory ad nauseam. It also meant their guards were down. This, combined with Stevie’s absence, had led to the current line of conversation.

“It’s really never happened? Not once in all these years of being friends?” Kevin asked.

“No! Why would it have?” Link said.

“We have a tradition of almost kissing, but never actually kissing,” Rhett explained.

“Yeah, we saw the kissing through hands experiment video,” Josh said. “But, really, it just seems like something you two would have done at some point.”

Rhett snorted and shifted in his chair. He wasn’t sure he liked where this line of questioning was headed.

From beside him, Link seemed to be of the same mindset. “Well, let me turn it back on you. Have you two ever kissed?”

“No!” The hosts answered in unison, which led to good-natured laughter throughout the room.

Rhett relaxed his muscles, content that the conversation about kissing was finished and they could move on to talking about something new. He was wondering how to steer it back to their book when Josh spoke again.

“Would you do it on a dare?”

“What?”

“Kiss. If we dared you, would you kiss each other on our show right now?”

Rhett glanced at Link, sure his friend would be as vehemently opposed to it as he was. Instead, Link was leaning forward on the table. “We’d accept that dare, but only if you two kiss first.”

“Link, what the hell?” Rhett said.

Link waved his hand dismissively. He looked certain that Josh and Kevin would back down when the dare was turned back on them. Instead, they called Link’s bluff and faced each other, crashing their lips together in a loud, lip-smacking kiss.

“Your turn,” Josh said, raising an eyebrow.

Rhett started to grumble in protest. He hadn’t agreed to any of this.

Kevin spoke again, “Unless you wanna bow out and let us beat you.”

He knew he shouldn’t even acknowledge this comment, but the competitive side of Rhett took over. He wasn’t one to back down from a challenge, especially not when the cameras were on him. His mind whirled. When had this turned from a dare into a competition?

“Fine. Whatever. Let’s get this over with, Link.” He turned his body towards Link’s, who was sitting there, slack-jawed. He blinked a few times before facing Rhett. He smiled hesitantly, then pursed his lips comically. He began to lean forward.

“Wait!” Kevin’s voice stopped Link’s forward momentum. “Listen, because we know how you like your research, we’ve pulled up a WikiHow article entitled ‘How to Kiss on a Dare.’ You two wanna give it a try?”

Link’s eyebrows shot up. The two had a quick conversation with their eyes.

_They totally planned this. They laid the trap and we walked right into it._

_We can get mad, or we can do this our way and make it entertaining._

Rhett cocked his eyebrow at the hosts. “Bring it on.”

*****

“Okay, next up: Freshen your breath,” Kevin said. The hosts were taking turns reading directions from the WikiHow article to Rhett and Link

“This will do.” Link pulled his lip balm from his pocket before slathering on a thick layer. “My Peculiarly Perfect Peanut Butter Peppermint Lip Balm, available at Rhett and Link dot com slash store.” He posed with the black and white tube, hamming it up for the camera.

“Gotta get that plug in; we understand,” Josh said. “So, next step: take some deep breaths.”

Rhett locked eyes with Link. They took several over-exaggerated deep breaths in tandem. A smirk played at the corners of Link’s mouth. Rhett concentrated on matching his breathing to Link’s, trying to bite back a laugh.

“Talk to the person you’re going to kiss. It suggests asking how they feel about kissing.”

Rhett shook his head slightly. This was so ridiculous. “Hey, man.”

“Hey.”

“So, uh, how do you feel about kissing?”

“I’m a fan in general, but I’m not looking forward to having that bushy beard assaulting me.”

Everyone laughed at this comment, but Rhett also ran his hand along his jawline, suddenly feeling unaccountably self-conscious about his beard.

“All right. Move in for the kiss slowly, but don’t actually kiss yet.”

Link adjusted his glasses and began to lean toward him at a glacial pace. Rhett was frozen in place. Now suddenly faced with the reality of what was about to happen, he felt his pulse quicken. Was it too late to go back to the deep breaths part?

“C’mon, Rhett, you gotta meet me halfway.”

Link’s words shook him out of his daze. He started moving forward. The two stopped when they were a few inches apart. They were close enough that Rhett could feel Link’s breath on his lips, warm and somehow comforting.

Kevin continued his instructions, “Now, place a hand on the back of the head and pull it forward gently.”

“Both of us?” Link said.

“Just one, based on the illustration.”

Still smirking, Link took the lead and lifted a hand. “I’ll do it. I don’t need your meaty hands sweating all over my head and neck.”

Rhett was vaguely aware of Kevin and Josh laughing somewhere in the background, but all he could concentrate on was the feeling of Link’s fingers coming into contact with the sensitive skin on the nape of his neck. Link shifted his hand was so it was cupping the back of his head. His thumb gently grazed his cheek. Inexplicably, Rhett felt the urge to shut his eyes. He forced himself to keep them open. This was supposed to be a dare, not something he enjoyed. He tried to remind himself of this fact as Link used the tiniest amount of pressure to bring his head even closer to his own.

“Tilt your heads to the right.”

Rhett followed these words, trying his best to anchor himself in reality. It was just a dare. They’d done all kinds of dumb things on the basis of a challenge. This was nothing different.

“Now, kiss. Be gentle.”

The two men hesitated for a fraction of a second, and then Link’s lips were pressing against his, slick and shiny thanks to the liberal amount of lip balm he’d applied. Rhett expected Link to plant a quick smooch of a kiss on his lips reminiscent of the one Josh and Kevin had shared. Instead, Link’s lips moved tenderly against his, gifting him with the softest kiss he’d ever experienced. Link’s fingers curled into the hairs on his head, pulling him closer as his tongue slipped past Rhett’s lips. Barely suppressing a noise of surprise, Rhett sprang to life, meeting the movements of Link’s tongue and plump, luscious lips. If the two hosts were talking, he couldn’t hear them. He closed his eyes as he lost himself in the kiss. The only thing that mattered in that moment was Link. The flavors of his lip balm mixed with a taste that Rhett knew was uniquely Link. It was one of the most delicious things he had ever tasted. Now that he’d sampled it, he couldn’t imagine resisting the temptation to have it every single day.

He wasn’t sure how long they kissed before they broke apart, Link’s teeth grazing against his bottom lip as he pulled away. When he felt the return of cool air as the heat of Link’s proximity disappeared, Rhett remembered the reality of their setting. He was overwhelmed by an embarrassment that was quickly squashed as Link winked at him, so subtly that Rhett was sure he was the only one who noticed it.

Calmly, Link turned his attention back to the hosts. “I hope your cameras got that.”

“Oh, we got it, don’t worry.”

“Good.” Link wiped at his mouth with the back of his hand. “Because I’m not doing another take.”

Josh tossed his head back and laughed. “So, how was it? Give us the rundown”

“Hairy. That moustache is so prickly. I don’t know how his wife puts up with it.”

More laughter filled the studio.

Kevin spoke up, “Rhett? You haven’t said anything. What was it like for you?”

“Pepperminty.” He flicked his tongue out to taste the traces of lip balm on his bottom lip. “And weird.”

“So, not something you’re going to be adding as a regular segment on GMM?”

“I think we’ll stick with taste tests and Will Its,” Rhett said, hoping his face wasn’t betraying the way he really felt. “Speaking of which, there’s a chapter in the book that discusses eating challenges. We thought we could give you guys an exclusive and read a section of it.”

*****

After the recording, they sat in the car in the parking lot, both staring straight ahead, neither ready to drive back to Mythical Entertainment yet. Rhett wanted to talk about what happened, but was unsure how to broach the topic.

Link broke the silence. “Stevie is gonna kill us when she sees that interview.”

“Yeah. We promised we’d be good.”

“I really didn’t mean to swear. It just slipped out when we talked about eating gross stuff. The internet is gonna lose its mind over that f-bomb.”

Rhett didn’t dare look at Link as he said, “And that kiss, huh?”

“Yeah.” This one-word answer left Rhett little to work with.

He ran his hand along his jawline. “Sorry about the beard, man. I’m sure it was annoying to have it scraping your face when we kissed.” He finally shifted so he was looking at Link.

Link shrugged. “It actually wasn’t that bad.” He lifted his eyes to Rhett’s. “In fact, I kinda liked it.”

Rhett felt his pulse quicken again. “Really?”

“Yeah, kissin’ you wasn’t all that bad. Probably would have been better if I’d taken these off, though.” Link pulled off his glasses. He set them on the dashboard, the sound of plastic hitting plastic echoing in the silence of the car.

Rhett swallowed hard, feeling vulnerable as Link’s eyes moved down to his lips. His gaze was intense and focused. “What are you doing, Link?”

“You know exactly what I’m doing. That kiss could have been better. I think we need another take.”

Rhett laughed breathily. “There are no cameras here. No one to dare us.”

“Oh, is that what you need? You need a dare to kiss me?”

“I-I-I…”

“I dare you to kiss me again, Rhett McLaughlin.” Link brought his face dangerously close to Rhett’s. “I just hope you don’t need to go through all of those steps again.”

In response, Rhett grabbed Link’s face and pulled him into a deep kiss. After all, he wasn’t one to back down from a dare.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos are always appreciated. Come visit me on Tumblr: [@rileyrooin](http://rileyrooin.tumblr.com).
> 
> WikiHow Article: [How to Kiss on a Dare](http://www.wikihow.com/Kiss-on-a-Dare)


End file.
